Sanctuary
by playa 69
Summary: Joseph and his homemade group of rescuers decided to go to an island to rescue another group but find themselves trapped with the people they were trying to save. now they must work together to survive.
1. Chapter 1

'What the hell am I doing on this island?' Joseph Notor panted behind a large tree. All around him were sounds but he listened closely for the sounds that would signal anything bigger than a dog. Joseph had read in books and saw on television that velociraptors only grew to three feet tall in height. Well that wasn't a fact on this island. On this island, the raptors he saw were at least seven feet tall. Perhaps the scientists who made this island wanted their pets to be big.

"Joseph," a girl came around the tree.

Joseph jumped back and aimed his crossbow at her. He then saw that it was just his friend so he lowered his weapon.

"Jesus, Tina, what are you doing scaring me like that?" Joseph said.

"Sorry," Tina Fizzer blushed, "I was afraid I was lost before I heard something panting on the other side of this tree. So I decided to check it out."

This disappointed Joseph since he thought he had been quite quiet. Joseph was a tall man with brown hair and green eyes. He wore a torn white shirt and dirty jeans. Tina was a red-head girl with blue eyes. Her hair was tangled and dirty and her clothes were covered in mud.

"Alright, let's find the others and try to get out of this jungle," Joseph said, "Where's Jasmine and Rachel?"

"We got separated and then I found you,"

"Well, they can't be far. Come on, let's go."

Joseph and Tina walked through the jungle, not daring to call out their friends' names for fear that those vicious velociraptors would come back. Tina carried a desert eagle pistol while Joseph had a shotgun on his back and a crossbow in his hand.

"Look," Tina pointed forward, "there's a clearing."

The two rushed forward and reached the edge of the jungle. They found a huge field with several broken down gates. In the center of the field were several buildings which all looked deserted.

"We can get some shelter in there," Joseph suggested.

"What if there are more dinosaurs in there?" Tina whimpered.

"Don't worry; we're fully equipped with three powerful weapons that'll deal with any dinosaurs we encounter." Joseph reassured.

The two reached the buildings and entered the largest one. As soon as Joseph entered the building, he was snatched to the side along with Tina.

"Who are you?" A deep voice asked Joseph.

"I'm just a tourist," Joseph lied.

"Liar," the voice shouted, "I've never seen no tourists with shotguns and crossbows before."

"Fine," Joseph gave in, "we're here to find a missing group of people that came here a couple of months ago."

Some whispers and exchange of dialogue flew around the room but Joseph couldn't see anything. Finally, someone removed his blindfold and he could see again.

"Who are you people?" Joseph asked.

"We're the ones you've been looking for," the man with the deep voice was taller than Joseph and more muscular. He had a shaved head and thick beard with menacing black eyes.

A few other people were in the room as well. One wore glasses and was very skinny with black hair and blue eyes. Another was a little girl, probably fifteen or sixteen years of age with blonde hair and blue eyes. The final person was a dark skinned shot man with black hair and black eyes.

The tall, muscular man had a shotgun in one hand and the blindfold in the other. The skinny man with the glasses had an M4 assault rifle while the girl had just a combat knife. The short fellow with the black eyes had two pistols at his sides and a belt of grenades.

"So," the muscular man said, "how you plan on getting us out of here?"

"Well," Joseph explained, "we did have an airplane but it was attacked by velociraptors."

"Wait," the girl said, "they can fly?"

"No," Joseph said, "we had landed already when they attacked. There were six others that were with us, two girls and four guys. The guys have heavy weapons with them but the girls are defenseless and they're out there by themselves."

"So there's eight of you in total?" the man asked.

"Yes," Joseph said, "now, if I may introduce myself, I am Joseph and my companion here is Tina."

Tina, who had been sitting next to Joseph the whole time, nodded. She was tied to a chair just like Joseph but she didn't get to wear a blindfold.

"I'm Michael Trevor," the man said, "That guy with the glasses over there is Terrence Freeman. The girl there is Jessica Jackson but she prefers to be called J.J. and the short black guy is Dominique Williams."

"Does he prefer you to call him 'short black guy'?" Joseph asked.

"I don't think it matters much now that we're on this island," Michael said as he cut the ropes that tied Joseph and Tina to their chairs.

"We have to go back out and look for the others," Joseph insisted, "we stand a better chance with more people."

"No," Michael said, "fuck that, I'm not going out there again. Last time we went outside we lost one of our guys."

"My friends have weapons, ammunition, food, and water with them," Joseph explained, "Enough for all of us for at least a month. And if we can get to the broken down airplane, we can get even more supplies."

"Is it possible to fix the airplane?" Dominique asked.

"Even if it was fixable the pilots are both dead," Joseph said.

"Well if they have supplies then what are we waiting for," Michael picked up two boxes of shotgun shells and a machete from the table, "Do you have any idea of where your friends are?"

"They probably would head back to the airplane or try to find some abandoned buildings like this one," Joseph said.

"Maybe we should have someone stay here," Jessica said, "just in case your friends come by."

"And how will you contact us?" Michael said, "Just write a note and leave it on the table."

Jessica did as she was told and put a note on a table. And soon the six people were outside and leaving the safety of the buildings.


	2. Chapter 2

"Look," Tina pointed at the jungle floor, "it's a shoe."

Michael and Joseph kneeled down next to Tina. There were two black, high-heeled shoes sitting on the floor next to a tree.

"These are Melisa's," Joseph picked one up.

"I found a trail," Dominique pointed at the ground.

"It doesn't look like any dinosaur tracks I've ever seen," Terrence said.

"'Cuz they're not," Michael walked over, "These were made by humans."

"Why would she take her high-heels off?" Jessica asked.

"Maybe to make walking easier," Terrence suggested, "or to run faster; the footprints are far apart, which means they were probably sprinting."

"Let's move," Joseph said, "we have to find them."

Michael led the way, cutting away thick vegetation with his machete. The trail winded and turned in all directions, perhaps trying to lose something that was following them. At one point one pair of tracks went into a mark that looked like someone fell into it. The other pair stopped and came back to assist and the trail continued. By now the group had noticed that there was a third pair of footprints. These footprints belonged to a large reptile of some sort.

"There," Tina pointed forward.

Ahead of the group was a large swamp area with many different vehicles including jeeps, infantry trucks, and even tanks. But it didn't look like any of the vehicles were going anywhere. On top of one tank there was a seven foot tall velociraptors biting at the hatch that led into the tank. Michael immediately raised his shotgun and took aim at the reptile. Michael's shotgun was an old two-shot shotgun while Joseph's was a newer tactical shotgun.

"No," Joseph grabbed Michael's shotgun and lowered it, "too much noise will give us away to others in the area."

Joseph raised his crossbow and fired the silent weapon. As the arrow left the crossbow, the crossbow automatically reloaded itself with a second arrow. Joseph fired again and again. The first arrow penetrated the velociraptor's chest; the second hit right next to the first and the third hit the raptor right in its right eye. The raptor gave a short squeal and fell off the tank. Joseph and the others jogged up to the tank and Michael got on. Michael pried open the hatch and looked inside.

"Is anyone in there?" Jessica called.

"Yeah," Michael said as he helped a girl with brown hair out of the tank.

The girl was wearing a shirt that had its sleeves ripped off and shredded jeans. Her long hair was tangled and dirty and she had scratches all over her. She was also bare foot.

"Melisa," Joseph hugged the brunette and gave her a kiss, "I thought I lost you."

"I don't get a hug?" asked another girl as she was helped out of the tank.

This girl had brown hair and dark skin. She had short hair that came down half way past the ears and a pair of brown eyes. She was tall and wore dirty clothes just like everyone else.

"Mina," Tina cheered and hugged her friend.

"It's a good thing you guys came along when you did," a man with dark brown hair and black eyes crawled out of the tank after Mina. He carried a large, fifty-caliber sniper rifle, "I was out of ammo when I was checking these vehicles for weapons, and then these two come charging out of the jungle with a velociraptor hot on their heels. I thought we were gonna' suffocate in there."

"That's everybody," Michael jumped off of the tank.

"Jim," Joseph called, "where are the others?"

"We headed back to the airplane after we got separated from you guys," the man with the sniper rifle explained, "then we had a rock, paper, scissors contest to see who would go out and search for you. I lost and so they sent me out."

"Well then," Joseph said, "our next stop is the airplane."

"Which way," Michael asked.

"I think it's that way," Jim pointed away from the swamp, "or that way." Jim pointed in the direction Joseph and the others had just come from.

"We just came from that way," Jessica said, "so it must be the other way."

"But we've been twisting and turning for a while now," Joseph explained, "we could on the opposite side of the island by now."

"Or it could be just a couple miles away," Mina said.

"Oh, shit," Terrence pointed at the water. Several huge scorpions walked out of the water towards the group. These scorpions were known as brontoscorpios or 'thunder lizard'. Brontoscorpios had gills and lungs and could switch between them. The natural brontoscorpio was only three feet long but the mad scientists that ran the island made them a length of ten feet and a height of four feet.

"Run," Joseph fired the two remaining arrows and a part of his crossbow fell off. He pulled out a second clip with five arrows on it and strapped it onto his crossbow.

"Joseph," Melisa called, "come on!"

Joseph ran into the jungle with the others, leaving the brontoscorpios behind. The giant scorpions were slow so Joseph and the others got away.

"What the fuck were those?" Michael gasped as the group stopped, "I thought scorpions lived on land."

"Those were brontoscorpios," Terrence explained, "they're one of the first creatures to walk on land."

"Hey," Dominique said, "where's J.J.?"

Jessica made her way through the jungle, desperate to find the others. Suddenly, a giant dragonfly flew up to her. Jessica pulled out her knife and swung at the dragonfly. She cut the dragonfly in half and kneeled down over it to examine the corpse. She heard a noise behind her and turned around to see the inside of a mouth. What looked like a giant Komodo dragon bit Jessica's head and dragged her away.

"Jessica," Dominique called out, "Jessica, where are you!?"

"Shut up," Michael demanded, "you want every dinosaur on the island looking for us?"

"Let's keep moving," Joseph said, "we can't stop now; we have to look for shelter."

"No," Tina protested, "too much running; need rest."

"Come on," Joseph pleaded, "I bet you wouldn't be sitting around if a dimetrodon came charging through the jungle."

Just as Joseph said this, a loud roar came from the jungle and everyone got up and ran for it, almost leaving Joseph behind. Dimetrodons were huge carnivorous reptiles with tall sails on their backs.

The group stopped running when they heard gunshots. The shots were automatic and didn't sound that strong but they were loud, which meant that they were close by.


	3. Chapter 3

Joseph exited the thick jungle into a small clearing. In the middle of the clearing was a crashed airplane that had lost both wings and the tail. Joseph slowly walked towards the crash site, crossbow raised. He walked to the back of the airplane where the tail used to be and peeked inside. As soon as he looked inside of the airplane an arrow flew right by his head, just barely scratching his face. He fell backwards, not knowing what had just happened.

"Oh shit," a voice cried, "Joseph, my bad, man."

A man grabbed Joseph's hand and helped him up from the ground.

"It's alright, Kevin," Joseph said, wiping the dirt off of himself, "where are the others?"

Kevin whistled and two other men left their hiding spots inside the airplane. Kevin was part Korean and part Japanese. He had a dark tan that made him look Hispanic and carried a crossbow that was almost identical to Joseph's. The other two men carried assault rifles and machine guns. One man had a Valmet M78 light machine gun. One had a camouflage green, custom colored FN SCAR. The inside of the airplane was a mess; boxes and crates were spread out everywhere and ammunition and weapons was scattered across the floor. Joseph gave a wave to signal for the rest of his group to leave cover.

"Michael," Joseph said, "I'd like to meet Kevin Phuong. This is Orlando Jackson," Joseph pointed at the man with the Valmet machine gun, "and Gregory Mills," he pointed at the man with the FN SCAR.

"Good," Michael said, "so we're all here."

"So where do we go from here?" Tina asked.

"Our best bet it to find a military installation and radio in for assistance," Terrence suggested.

"There's no way," Kevin said, "this place is wild, and we'll torn to shreds if we're stuck outside at night. We can barely keep ourselves alive in the several hours Joseph disappeared."

"Then we'll stay here the night and restock our weapons," Jim suggested, "We can start walking in the morning. It's better than waiting here to die."

"We could try to reach the shore?" Mina suggested, "And signal for help from there."

"That'll never work," Dominique protested, "there's not a ship or plane for one thousand miles from this island. And all the military installations on the island might be overrun with prehistoric monsters. We don't even know if any radios still work."

"Then what do you suggest?" Tina asked.

"We head back to where we found those tanks and military vehicles," Dominique said, "we can hide out there and restock on food and water."

"How about getting off this god forsaken rock?" Joseph said.

"We can adapt to our surroundings," Dominique said, "we can survive long enough to build a raft or some kind of transportation off the island."

"Shit we'd be dead in a week," Kevin mumbled.

"What about you?" Dominique shouted, "I haven't heard any suggestions from you lately."

"That's because I'm not much of a leader," Kevin said, "I'm just good at voting for what I think is the best idea."

"Alright listen," Joseph said, "we'll stay the night here and make up our minds in the morning."

"By morning we'll all be eaten by giant spiders or something," Michael chuckled.

"Shouldn't we start a fire?" Mina asked.

"No," Joseph said, "starting a fire will lead creatures to our location. Our best bet is sticking to our supply of canned foods for now."

And so each person in the group picked their spots inside the airplane for a place to sleep and scheduled look-outs. Joseph and Michael were the first ones to stand guard. The two sat quietly in the dark, the jungle was full of noise and Joseph wondered if anyone inside the plane was sleeping or not. Every now and then Joseph thought he saw a shadow moving in the dark but every time he checked there was nothing but small insects and rodents.

"I need some shut eye," Michael said, "when's our watch over?"

"Another fifteen minutes," Joseph checked his watch, the only one that was waterproof and still working.

"Shit," Michael said, "I'm sleeping right now, cover for me."

"How can you sleep with all this noise around us?" Joseph said.

"I spent most of my life in the jungle," Michael said, "I'm used to it. I'm a survivalist."

Joseph chuckled and Michael fell into his sleep. Now Joseph was truly alone. But he didn't feel alone. He felt like someone, or something was watching him, quietly. He got up and looked into the dark, thick vegetation that was in front of him. He raised his crossbow in anticipation, expecting something to jump out of the jungle at him. Nothing happened for awhile and Joseph decided that it was his imagination. His shift was now up and it was now Terrence' and Kevin's turns.

Terrence curved his mouth as he sat, impatiently against the plane. Kevin was also uncomfortable as he sat at the back of the crashed plane. The jungle was still full of noises from insects and such things when Kevin decided to go take a piss. He got up from his seat and informed Terrence of his intentions.

"Hey," Kevin called, "I'm gonna' go take a leak, cover for me."

Terrence looked at the watch Joseph gave him and sighed as it was still half an hour before his shift was up, "hurry up, it's dangerous to be out alone for too long.

"Aight," Kevin strolled into the jungle and was almost instantly out of sight.

Terrence was suddenly horrified by how quickly Kevin had vanished. He thought he had been looking deep into the jungle but now he realized he was staring only a few meters into the jungle. He suddenly felt paranoid and the noises around him increased in sound and frequency. He could swear he heard the sound of feet hitting the ground rapidly all around the clearing. HE then noticed that Kevin hadn't come back yet. He was about to wake the others and tell them to take arms when Kevin came back.

"I'm back," Kevin said, "how much more time we got?"

"About twenty five more minutes," Terrence sighed as the paranoia left him.

"Shit," Kevin sighed, "this is proving to be a little more irritable than I thought it would be."

"Yeah," Terrence kicked at the ground beneath him. Suddenly he heard a loud noise from the thick vegetation, "you hear that?"

Kevin raised his crossbow in the general direction of the noise and Terrence raised his M4 rifle. He had found some equipment inside the plane and his rifle now had a mounted flashlight and grenade launcher tube. The light from his rifle hit the vegetation and a horde of insects fled from the light. For the next twenty five minutes nothing more special had happened and it was now time for Mina and Tina to take watch.

Mina had held a real pistol in her hand once before this and now she had an M4 assault rifle that Terrence let her use. Tina had found two SMGs in the plane crash and held them tight in her hand. She had never shot a gun but she had murdered someone before using a steak knife. Ever since then Tina had been a sweet little angel and no one could tell that she was a killer. Tina and Mina both heard countless noises in the darkness and Mina was constantly shining her light from tree to tree, paranoid about velociraptors jumping from nowhere. Tina simply watched the darkness and breathed heavily, trying to curb her crave for a cigarette. Yes, Tina also smoked cigarettes and every now and then she would do drugs but she was trying to quit. The world was quiet to her as she lay on the ground watching the stars. She had never seen stars before because she had always lived in the big city where the lights of the city blocked out the light from the stars. They were so beautiful to her that time had gone by so fast while she was staring at them.

"Tina," Mina said, waking Tina from her trance, "how much more time do we have?"

"Ten minutes," Tina glanced at the watch Terrence gave her.

"Do you feel like someone or something is watching us?" Mina said as she moved her rifle light from one area to another.

"You mean like God?" Tina asked, still staring at the stars.

"No," Mina said, "I mean like a dinosaur."

"Oh," Tina had forgotten that she was on an island infested with prehistoric creatures, "no, don't be so paranoid."

"What if they can smell potential food from a mile away?" Mina said nervously, "they could be surrounding us, and before we know it they would drag us off into the night then come back for the others while they're sleeping."

"I doubt they're asleep," Tina said, "I couldn't even close my eyes through all of Joseph' and Michael's shifts. I had stayed awake halfway through Terrence' and Kevin's shifts too."

"Well," Mina said, "that makes two of us."

Tina and Mina giggled in the dark quietly so as not to wake the others, if they were even sleeping. The rest of the shift flew by without much talking and it had now come to Jim and Gregory. They sat next to each other as most of the shift went by pretty fast.

"Were you awake while the others were having their shifts?" Jim asked.

"Yeah, through all three other shifts," Gregory sighed. He was a short, scrawny little man with dark black hair and menacing red eyes.

"Have you noticed that it's gotten quieter?" Jim said.

Suddenly it was clear that most of the insects had stopped making noises now and it was as quiet as a graveyard now.

"Well," Gregory said, "at least now we can hear anything that tries to sneak up on us."

"Hey," Jim got up slowly, "what's that over there?"

A strangely shaped shadow was shaped at the very edge of the vegetation. Gregory's SCAR didn't have any light and Jim didn't have a light on his fifty caliber sniper rifle either. And both of the men didn't carry flashlights.

"Go over there and poke it," Gregory suggested.

Slowly, Jim started walking closer to the strange shadow that separated itself from the others.

"I was kidding," Gregory said quickly when he saw Jim moving closer to the shadow, "don't go near that thing. Find a light and shine it at it."

"I have a gun with a long ass barrel," Jim assured Gregory, "It can't reach me if I poke it."

Suddenly the shadow jumped at Jim and he fell backwards, dropping his rifle. But when he shielded his face nothing happened. Instead the creature landed on Gregory. The shadow was just that, a shadow of a giant, full grown, pit-bull sized spider. It looked like a giant tarantula and was trying to bite Gregory who was on the ground trying to keep the fangs of the giant spider away from his face. Jim quickly picked up his rifle and aimed it at the prehistoric monstrosity. He fired it once and the loud bang was enough to startle everyone inside the plane. The giant creature was knocked off of Gregory and fell onto the ground. It curled its eight legs and gave a quiet squeal as it passed into death.

"Shit," Gregory wiped himself off, "that was close."

"That's not all," Jim gasped as he turned around, "grab your gun, now!"

Dozens of giant spiders jumped at the plane crash as Jim and Gregory both backed into the plane. The others were now awake and fully armed. The spiders started crawling into the plane from the back while the humans were picking up guns.

Bullets flew out of the back end of the plane as spiders were blown to bits by gunfire. One spider jumped into the plane and was blown back by Joseph with his tactical pump-action shotgun. He cocked it and blew away another spider that tried to jump at him. Red and green blood soon covered the back end of the plane and the ground around it. But the spiders just kept coming in. They were getting closer to the group.

Tina was shooting her two SMGs but she ran out of ammo. She threw them at the spiders and picked up a pistol. But then a spider jumped onto her back. She screamed just as the spider was about to dig its giant fangs into her. But it was whacked off of her back by Michael with a short metal pipe.

"They're coming in through the cockpit," Michael shouted as he picked his shotgun back up and blasted a spider that was crawling in through the window of the empty cockpit.

"You fucking jinxed us, you son of a bitch," Terrence called to Michael, "You said we'd be eaten by spiders and now we are."

"Just shut the fuck up and keep fuckin' shooting," Dominique said as he fired round after round from his two pistols. Tina picked her desert eagle back up and shot right through a spider with it. The sound of the desert eagle was rivaled only by Joseph' and Michael's shotguns and Jim's sniper rifle.

"Don't give 'em an inch," Joseph shouted, but the group was now cornered between two entry points and a seemingly endless amount of spiders.

But Mina found a flash grenade and thought it was a normal grenade. She pulled the pin out and threw it out of the plane, hoping to blow up a few spiders, but it blew up with a loud bang and flash instead. The group ceased fire and covered their eyes as they were slightly blinded. It seemed lost for the group was now temporarily blinded and deaf but when they came back to reality the spiders were gone, the living ones anyway. The flash bang must've scared the spiders away. The group congratulated Mina on her quick thinking even though it was a fluke, but Mina decided that the others didn't have to know that. She simply smiled as the sun began to rise over the trees.


	4. Chapter 4

"Come on," Joseph urged the group as they moved through the jungle, "we have to keep moving."

The group had voted on it and they were going to look for a human installation, hopefully a military one.

"Can't we take a break?" Mina complained.

"No," Michael said, "keep moving, we have to reach some kind of shelter before dark."

Joseph and Michael led the group while Tina and Mina seemed to be lagging behind, exhausted from the journey, even though they had only been walking for a few hours.

"There's a waterfall over there," Terrence pointed at a moderately sized waterfall about two miles away, "we can probably take a break there."

"Yeah, let's take a break over there," Mina suggested.

"Oh my God," Tina complained, "that's like two miles away, we'll never make it."

"Fine," Joseph said, "we'll take a break once we reach the waterfall."

The group continued on through the jungle but they failed to notice something strange as they neared the waterfall. There were a lot of fallen trees showing up as the group neared the waterfall, and something Terrence, Joseph, or Michael definitely should have noticed but failed to, there were gigantic footprints in the soil.

"Do you guys smell that?" Kevin said as the group neared the waterfall.

"Smells like something died," Orlando covered his nose with his dirt covered shirt.

Michael was at the front of the group slicing the vegetation away with his machete. He suddenly stopped and backed up, covering the bottom half of his face with his shirt. Joseph walked in front as gasped. The pool of water at the bottom of the waterfall was full of blood. All along the water were velociraptor bodies of all different colors from camouflage green to bright blue. Every single velociraptor was dead and most barely had any body left.

"What is this?" Tina put her hand to her mouth in disgust.

Suddenly there was a loud crack behind the group. Everyone turned around and some of their jaws dropped. The crack was the trunk of a fallen tree that was broken in half by the foot of a giant dinosaur that looked like a tyrannosaurus-rex with a giant fan on its back. It had a dead velociraptor in its mouth and smelled horrible. It stood there, staring at the group as if the humans were potential food.

"Nobody move," Joseph slowly reached into a bag that Dominique was holding, "I'm going to use a flash bang, and when I do that-"

But then Orlando simply took off running parallel to the pond and the spinosaur. Joseph called after him but the spinosaurus took off after Orlando. Orlando turned and shot at the spinosaurus to no use. The bullets penetrated the thick brownish green hide but it was likely the spinosaurus didn't even notice. Orlando jumped into a giant hollow log and began to crawl through the log. The spinosaurus swallowed the velociraptor in its mouth and soon had its full attention on Orlando. The spinosaurus stuck its giant alligator like head into the log and began to push. The log broke apart as the spinosaurus got closer to Orlando who was desperately trying to search for a grenade or flash bang but then he remembered that Dominique was carrying the bag with all the explosives. He cursed under his breath when he reached the end of the log. He crawled out of the log and began to run again just as the spinosaurus broke the last foot of the giant log. Orlando made a U turn around a giant tree with the spinosaurus in close pursuit, trying to get back to the group. He came to where he left the group but no one was there anymore and the spinosaurus was almost upon him. He turned around and emptied the rest of his magazine out on the spinosaurus' head before it bit him in half.

"Was it right to just leave him there?" Mina said between gasps for air.

"It was him or him and all of us," Michael said, also out of air from sprinting such a long distance in such a short time.

"We have to go;" A tired, cramped Joseph urged the group, "that spinosaurus will be coming for us pretty soon after it finished Orlando."

"What," Kevin said, "Orlando's fat ass wasn't enough for that thing?"

"That thing will have to eat ten Orlandos before it comes close to being satisfied," Gregory joked while gasping for air.

"Alright," Joseph said, "the waterfall idea was a bust and now we have to keep moving."

"You're fuckin' crazy if you think I'm taking another step without taking a break," Tina said with a meaner voice than usual, "I don't care if a speentusauros or whatever the fuck it's called is chasing us. I need a fucking drink."

"Whoa," Kevin said, "I've never heard you swear that much in my entire life."

"Well woopdy fucking doo," Tina flailed her arms, "I should never have started smoking now my lungs are black and failing." She lifted her drinking flask up but she only managed to get a few drops of water.

"Here," Dominique threw his drinking flask at Tina.

Tina caught the flask and downed the entire thing in one swig. After Tina got her long awaited drink the group continued on, now with no water and a few bags of rations.

"We're done," Terrence said as he wiped the sweat off his brow, "we're never gonna' find a military installment. We're all gonna' die here!"

"Wait," Mina called, "I see something." She pointed through the jungle and there was a brown shape not too far off. The group ran through the jungle and then came to a swamp with a bunch of military vehicles in it.

"Shit," Jim said, "We're back to where we started."

"Not necessarily," Michael pointed to the top of a tall hill overseeing the swamp area. At the top of the hill was a building with a huge satellite dish on top of it. The building looked run down but intact. Just as the group was about to celebrate though, a loud and vicious roar came from the jungle behind them. It must've been the spinosaurus. Orlando wasn't enough to satisfy its diet so it was going after the group as a whole now.

"Run," Joseph shouted and the group ran along the side of the swamp, hoping that maybe the spinosaurus would get tricked into stepping into the water and drowning.

The group started to climb the hill and zig zagged through the light vegetation. The spinosaurus charged out of the thick forest and stepped right into the swampy water. But its weight did not betray it and let it sink in the water. Instead the spinosaurus charged right through the water, for the water only went up to its knee. But suddenly it dropped as it hit the deepest part of the swampy water. The spinosaurus was slowly but surely making its way to the group that was having a hard time getting through vegetation and climbing uphill at the same time. But then the spinosaurus gave a loud yelping sound like it was in pain. It quickly crawled out of the water and onto the closest land it could find. Following the spinosaurus were several giant scorpions. The spinosaurus fought viciously with the brontoscorpios but in doing so had forgotten about the group of humans who had made it to the building. By the time the group got to the building though, the spinosaurus had killed four brontoscorpios and scared the others away. It now had a delicious banquet to feast on and forgot all about the humans. Joseph and the others had it lucky.


	5. Chapter 5

Michael and Joseph kicked open the metal front door to the research facility at the top of the hill. Light shined into the building both from the outside and from the group's flashlights. The large room they were in appeared to be empty except for some bugs and rodents that skittered around on the floor. Michael and Joseph walked into the room after confirming there were no large meat-eating dinosaurs inside. The six men and three women walked into the room, eyeing the bloody walls and broken consoles. The room was filled with green tanks that held all kinds of abominations. Some were meant to form dinosaurs but never made it. There was one window in the room which was at the ceiling. The light from the outside shone from the window and lit up an isolated tank. Inside the tank of green liquid there was a mutated abomination that seemed to be taking the form of a tyrannosaurus mixed with a spinosaurus. The creature had arms growing out of places that they shouldn't be. It also had a disfigured face and an unbalanced body. The console connected to the cell was still active but the status of the creature was dead.

The group was going to stay in this building for awhile and look for a way to contact the outside, or perhaps a way off the island and back to civilization. But something shuffled in the darkness and everyone turned their heads. Michael raised his shotgun and Joseph raised his crossbow. A man limped out of the darkness. Bone stuck out of his left leg and he was bleeding all over. He carried a single pistol that had run out of ammo.

"Who are you?" Michael demanded.

"Don't shoot," the man coughed up some blood, "I'm a scientist at this facility. At least, I used to be."

The man fell backward onto the ground, dropping his pistol.

"What's your name?" Joseph lowered his crossbow and walked towards the man, but Michael stood his ground.

"My name is not important," the man said, "you must stop them."

"Stop who," Joseph asked.

"The other scientists, they're all mad! They failed at completing Sanctuary, but they still have mad dreams of a place where dinosaurs can be viewed as zoo animals. They are trying to make a perfect dinosaur."

"We need a way off the island," Joseph said.

"There's a boat," the man coughed up some more blood, "underground where the other scientists are conducting their plans for the new sceptrosaurus. It will destroy everything if completed. You must stop their campaign of playing God."

"How do we get there?" Joseph asked.

The man pointed with his left hand to a console that seemed to be covered by vegetation.

"Enter the six digit code on the panel on the bottom left of the console. The code is eight-two-four-eight-nine-" The man died before he could give the last number.

"We can figure out the last number by guessing," Joseph got up.

Suddenly the side of the building burst open. The spinosaurus from earlier had finished up all the brontosaurus and was hungry again. The group spread out, some shooting their weapons at the giant predator. Joseph stopped at the console the man had pointed out and removed the vegetation. He found the panel and began entering the numbers. He guessed the last number and got it wrong.

"Hurry up," Terrence shot his rifle from behind a console. The spinosaurus bit the console and ripped it out of the ground. Terrence dived behind another console and the spinosaurus continued to devour the consoles that Terrence hid behind.

After two more guesses Joseph got the right number and the floor in the middle of the room opened up. A platform rose up and everyone ran for it. The spinosaurus was still trying to get to Terrence who kept diving from console to console.

"Terrence," Dominique shouted, "get your ass over here!"

Terrence dove to another console and the spinosaurus must've gotten tired of chasing him. The dinosaur walked over to the dead scientist and practically swallowed him whole. Terrence took this opportunity to reach the platform elevator the others were on. But when he got there everyone noticed that Mina was still hiding behind a large console. She ran for the platform but the spinosaurus cut in front of her and picked her up by the head with its mouth. It threw her body up in the air and caught it with its jaws.

"No," Tina screamed, "Mina!"

Joseph and Kevin held Tina back from running at the giant dinosaur. The platform began to lower after Gregory hit a button on a control panel sticking out of the platform. The spinosaurus reached its head down the gaping hole in the ground to try to catch one more meal but the floor closed up on its head. The spinosaurus gave a loud roar and pulled its head back before the doors crushed it. Melisa comforted Tina who had just lost her best friend she had known since elementary school. The group was down one more girl and their numbers were small now.

The elevator stopped and two double doors opened up in front of the group. The group stepped into a bright, white room with lights everywhere. The double doors leading to the elevator closed back up and now the group was stranded in the room. Suddenly doors in front of the group opened and an even larger room was revealed. This room was filled with scientists and men with high-tech weaponry. Cylinders filled with green liquid held monstrous abominations but many held elegant and dazzling creatures. There were feathered dinosaurs of different colors and the bigger liquid filled containers held giant creatures that looked beautiful yet ferocious at the same time. The ancient creatures looked much more peaceful when they were asleep.

"Welcome," a bald man in a white lab suit said, "to Sanctuary. I've been watching you on the island monitors and I must say that you impress me with your ability to survive. Using that flash bang to ward off those arachnids was very cunning. I am Doctor Zack Bradshaw; let me be the first to welcome you to our future paradise. We have learned from our failed experiments on the surface and are more vigilant of mistakes and errors."

"Were you watching us upstairs?" Joseph asked.

"Yes," Zack said, "and I assure you that that scientist up there was insane. He tried to stop our plans of paradise and destroy our work. He succeeded in killing our old project called sceptrosaurus. But no worries, we exiled him from our underground lab and started recreating sceptrosaurus. It will have the strength of the strongest dinosaur and the speed of the quickest. It will have eyes like an eagle and the nose of a shark. It will be able to detect any movement on the entire island and have a hide fifty times thicker than a brontosaurus. It will have the ability to swim as well, making it deadly on land and sea. It will be able to jump vast distance in one leap, and have the greatest achievement of all. It will have more knowledge than the average human. We will create the first intellectual dinosaur."

"You're mad," Gregory said, raising his rifle to shoot the scientist.

Suddenly a gunshot was heard and a bullet soared through Gregory's forehead.

"Any signs of heresy down here will result in either death at where you stand or exile from the lab. And I don't think any of you will survive for long on the surface. The original group led by Michael here was over forty strong. Look at him now."

"So what are our options?" Kevin asked.

"You can go to the surface and retrieve samples of dinosaur DNA for us. All the original samples were lost when that rogue scientist broke away and nearly killed us all. We have collected almost all the DNA we need to recreate sceptrosaurus but our collecting team has disappeared on the surface after an encounter with a spinosaurus. Marvelous creatures, but they sometimes complicate things. Hopefully you'll be better than our last group."

"What do we get if we succeed?" Michael asked.

"You will each get point-five percent of the profit earned from our coming paradise that we will call 'Sanctuary'. You will all be multi-billionaires."

"And if we do not accept?" Michael asked.

"You will be exiled from this underground laboratory and sent into the wilderness of the island with no weapons, food or water."

"Sounds reasonable to me," Dominique said.

"Seems like we don't have a choice," Joseph said, "ok, we'll collect your samples for you."

"Wonderful," Zack smiled and turned around, "you will need newer weaponry than those. You couldn't take down a single t-rex with those things. I will send you back to the surface with your first assignment and state-of-the-art weapons tomorrow. But for now, I offer you rest and recreation. Turn in your weapons and explore the lab. Fresh clothes and your own rooms will be given to each of you. I will get someone to remove your friend from the ground."

Soldiers in full body armor and high-tech looking guns took all the weapons from Joseph and the others. The group was then given a tour around the laboratory. The liquid filled cylinders were everywhere and scientists were abundant. There were two guards stations at every single door and some of the larger holding tanks were guarded with multiple soldiers and computerized gun turrets. After the tour, everyone was given fresh white t-shirts and pants and a private room. There were no cameras in the rooms but the doors were locked. The beds were kind sized and had fresh white sheets. But nobody slept well that night, knowing that tomorrow they were going to be thrown back out into the wild and if they objected, they'd be thrown into the wild anyways except without weapons and no food or water.

The forest outside was loud again tonight.


	6. Chapter 6

Joseph and the others awoke to a hearty breakfast in bed. After the meal, Joseph left his now unlocked room to meet with the others. They all came together inside a very large room. The room had a long line of dummy targets on one end. Soon, doctor Bradshaw was in the room with a rather large cart. He opened the door on the side of the cart to reveal an array of futuristic looking weapons.

"This is an old experimental weapon from several years ago that we kept adding on to," Zack retrieved a rifle-sized weapon with a blue bar along the barrel, "this is the latest version of our plasma rifle. It fires either in a semi-automatic, full-automatic, or a grenade effect."

Zack demonstrated by switching the gun to semi-automatic. He fired at a dummy target with a short burst. Every single round met its mark and the areas that were hit immediately began melting away. The plasma was like thick, blue acid. Zack them switched the weapon into grenade mode. He fired it once and was pushed back several feet before he could regain balance. A rather large blue sphere was lobbed forward and exploded on a dummy target. The blue plasma sprayed outwards and hit at least fifteen other dummies. The dummies in the immediate area of the blast quickly dissolved into nothing.

"But this weapon doesn't save the DNA of its victim, which is why I suggest you do not use it against your target. In fact," Zack added, "only use this on previous targets. And the plasma is rendered useless in water. The hides of larger, stronger dinosaurs are also unaffected by the plasma. Such dinosaurs such as the mighty spinosaurus probably don't even feel it."

"So how do we hurt the big ones?" Joseph asked.

"You can use this," Zack put aside the plasma rifle and picked up a crossbow with a small red button on each side, "This crossbow fires several different types of arrows. And in a desperate situation, you can press and hold these two buttons for five seconds a one minute self-destruct timer will begin."

Zack put the crossbow next to the plasma rifle and picked up four arrows, each with a different color tip.

"This red tipped arrow is an explosive arrow. Not much to it, it detonated on impact. This green tipped arrow is a penetration arrow. You can shoot through ten raptors and it will still fly straight. This blue tipped arrow will stick into a dinosaur, preferably a big one, and inject a small amount of plasma. So there's no worry about penetrating the hide with plasma, you can just inject it directly into the body. And finally this white tipped arrow will collect blood samples and DNA."

Zack set aside the arrows and retrieved a thick sword with glass on the sides to reveal the inside which was filled with a blue liquid.

"This sword uses the energy from the plasma inside to slice through anything and leave behind a trail of plasma as a calling card. But if you drop it in water it is rendered useless."

Zack put the sword aside and retrieved a rather long weapon with three holes at each end of the barrel.

"This state-of-the-art harpoon gun will fly through water like the crossbow's arrows and penetrate just about anything. You can also connect a cable to the end of a harpoon. This weapon is so powerful against water based creatures it has been nick named the 'mini torpedo'."

Zack finally got out one last weapon. This one did not have a barrel, but four long rods instead.

"This electric gun had a setting from one to ten. One to three are considered the stun settings while nine and ten are the spinosaurus slayers. Shoot this thing in the water with it on ten and everything for fifty meters will be dead, and everything else for five miles will feel it. But the weapon has been known to malfunction past setting eight."

Zack put the electric gun down ex the other weapons and pulled out a large scope.

"This all-purpose scope is mountable to every single ranged weapon I give to you. And since the electric gun fires in a relatively straight line, well, lets just say that this is the closest your ever gonna' get to controlling where the lightning strikes. This scope can also switch between normal and thermal. And while in thermal you can choose color or black and white. And while in black and white, you can choose for hot spots to be black or hot spots to be white."

Zack then opened a compartment on the cart and pulled out a handheld weapon of some sort.

"This will be you main method of retrieving the DNA. One of these will carry one sample of DNA because the needle to so sharp but it is also fragile. It will break after penetrating the hide."

"We're each given the entire set?" Melisa asked, nervous about carrying so much weight.

"On the contrary," Zack smiled, "I've chosen who will get what depending on skill level and weight contribution. Jim will get the experimental electric gun prototype. Terrence and Kevin will carry the plasma swords. Joseph and Michael will get plasma rifles and crossbows. The girls will carry just crossbows. Dominique will have the mini torpedo. Everyone will carry two DNA samplers each. Those of you with ranged weapons will take an all purpose scope."

"When do we leave?" Michael asked.

"Right now," Zack handed a small pane of glass with a button on it to Michael.

Michael pressed the tiny button and a rotating image of a velociraptor appeared on the glass. The raptor had a dark green tail and the color got brighter as it neared the head. There was a single red stripe on the head. There was description of the raptor in the bottom left corner. There was also an overview of the entire island on the bottom right with spots of red.

"Careful now," Zack said, "I saw you take down that raptor on the tank. He was easy pickings. The brighter the coat, the more deadly the raptor is. The red on the overview represents recent hotspots. One hotspot is pretty close, but you better hurry before that spinosaurus gets there and eats all our DNA."

"How will we contact you?" Joseph asked.

"Use this glass," Zack pointed at the pane of glass in Michael's hands, "It will start blinking red when I'm trying to get to you. Don't worry about contacting me. And remember, I'll be watching."

With that final disturbing comment, the group left the underground base, fully equipped and ready for some action. The spinosaurus was gone by now.

"Where's the closest hotspot?" Joseph asked Michael.

"Its due west, about half a mile," Michael answered.

Everyone looked to the west and before they even saw the tree line, they saw several nests with eggs in them. The nesting area was practically right next to the group. But where were the mothers? It was just the eggs.

"Let's get down there," Michael said, "maybe we can find a raptor if we're up close."

The group walked down the hill and got to the nest with no problem. But even up close, the raptors were nowhere to be found. But there was a single young raptor that had the same coat design as on the image. But the raptor was dead from something. Huge teeth marks ran along the corpse. Michael was about to collect a sample of DNA from the rotting corpse but Terrence stopped him.

"Wait," Terrence said, "It could be infected. We need pure DNA from a fresh corpse, or maybe even a live one."

"Uh," Tina stuttered, "guys, you might want to see this."

The entire group turned around. There must've been at least three dozen velociraptors standing there. They were back from a hunting run and they didn't look too pleased by the site of a fallen young. Every single raptor bore the same design as on the image.

"Damn," Kevin said, "they look pissed."


	7. Chapter 7

"Flash bang out," Terrence shouted right before he threw a flash bang towards the dozens of velociraptors.

Everyone covered their ears and closed their eyes as tight as they could. The flash bang went off and the raptors all looked away while making loud, strange noises to each other. The eight humans took this chance and ran into the tree line. But they made a fatal mistake. Almost immediately after the group ran into the forest, they became separated. Each person ran hopelessly through the thick vegetation, hearing the heavy footsteps of the chasing raptors. Michael pointed his plasma rifle behind him and fired but still kept running as fast as he could. Holding the rifle behind him like that unbalanced him and he tripped over a tree root that stuck out of the ground. He quickly got on his back and aimed his rifle at the raptor behind him. But he was surprised to see that there was no raptor behind him. He was aiming at thick vegetation and nothing else.

Somewhere else in the forest Jim decided to stop running and stand his ground. He set his electric gun to five and turned around. He immediately blasted a velociraptor that jumped at him. Another raptor came from Jim's left and he blasted that one too. Both raptors continued on their flight path but Jim easily dodged them. The raptors fell onto the ground, one on top of the other, knocked out or dead, Jim couldn't tell.

Terrence and Kevin were lucky enough to end up sticking together. They made their way quicker than the others by using their plasma swords to cut through anything large that got in their way. But the raptors were faster. A single raptor jumped out of the vegetation right in front of Terrence and Kevin. Both men stepped to the side and gave the raptor one slash. The raptor landed behind the two men with large scars on each side. Even though slicing through thick vegetation was like a knife through butter, slicing through the velociraptor hide was much more difficult. As the raptor turned around, Kevin thrusts the sword deep into the throat of the seven foot tall dinosaur.

Melisa and Tina rushed through the thick vegetation with a velociraptor close behind them. Melisa turned around to risk one shot from her crossbow at the incoming raptor. She shot a single green tipped arrow that missed its target 

and flew harmlessly through several trees before it disappeared. After that failed shot, Melisa turned back around and tried to catch back up with Mina.

Dominique jumped over a log and huddled behind it for cover. The two raptors that were chasing him leaped over the log and continued onward into the jungle, thinking that Dominique was farther in. Dominique let out a sigh of relief as he settled in and took a good look at his surroundings. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw three figures running through the vegetation. He looked and saw Tina and Melisa running from a single velociraptor. Dominique raised his spear gun and fired a single spear. The spear flew right into the head of the raptor, killing it almost instantly. The raptor fell to the ground with a twenty-four inch spear halfway through its skull.

Michael backed up against a tree, still sitting on the ground. He aimed his rifle in the direction of wherever he saw movement. He swore he could see several creatures circling him. Without a second thought, he fired a burst to his left. The plasma hit nothing but leafs and disintegrated those. Michael lowered his rifle to calm down, but as soon as he did, a raptor jumped out of the thick vegetation from the right. Michael shouldered his rifle again and let out a burst of plasma. The plasma hit its mark and the surprised raptor fell short of its target. The raptor was quickly melting away from the plasma and Michael was thinking about taking some DNA from whatever was left after the plasma was all burned out. But suddenly a second raptor jumped out from directly in front of Michael. He didn't have time to shoulder his rifle again so he just shot it from his hip. Two bursts met their mark in the chest and the raptor fell short of its target. Two close calls was a relief to Michael. But a third raptor jumped from the left. Before he knew it, Michael was under attack from a fourth, fifth, and sixth raptor.

Joseph stopped rushing through the forest and turned around. He raised his new crossbow and fired five green tipped arrows in a tight, horizontal line. Almost immediately after the arrows shot into the thick vegetation, a dead raptor fell through the green and onto the ground next to Joseph. Joseph quickly pressed a button on his crossbow and the front fell off. He jammed another pack onto the 

front of the crossbow and shouldered it. Joseph fired another horizontal line and reloaded his crossbow with blue tipped arrows.

Michael sat with his back against the tree. The area in front of him held eight dead velociraptors. Michael's plasma rifle had run out of plasma so he had to reload it. He hit a button on his rifle and a cylinder fell out of the side of the rifle. He pulled out a different cylinder that was glowing blue, but before Michael could reload his rifle, another raptor jumped out at him. Michael raised his arms to protect his face, but a green tipped arrow suddenly flew right through the tree he was sitting by and soared right through the velociraptor's head. Michael sat back and breathed out a sigh of relief. But he was smart enough not to sit and wait. He jammed the glowing cylinder into his rifle and got up. Michael started moving towards the direction that the arrow had come from.

Dominique was still lying down behind the log and watching the terrain. Suddenly, he noticed a red flashing in one of his pockets. He removed a small pane of glass from his pocket and pressed a small button on the corner. The center of the panel showed the face of Jim.

"Finally," Jim said, "somebody answered me."

"Where are the others?" Dominique asked.

"Shit," Jim said, "I don't know. I'm still broadcasting for their signals. If we're lucky, some of them are still alive."

After Jim said that, his face on the glass moved to the left. On the right side of the glass, Terrence's face appeared.

"Where the hell are you?" Jim asked.

"I'm here with Kevin," Terrence said, "hey, Kevin. Turn on your communication-magig."

"Communication-magig?" Jim chuckled.

"Whatever you call this thing," Terrence said.

Soon, Jim's face moved up to the top left corner of the screen. Terrence moved up to the top right and Kevin's face appeared on the bottom left. The bottom right square remained blank.

Melisa and Tina reached the end of the tree line and saw a metal bridge, wide enough for two tanks, side by side. A load shriek made Melisa and Tina rush across the bridge. In a few short moments, Tina and Melisa had crossed the one hundred yard bridge. Below the bridge was a steep drop of at least two hundred meters. At the bottom was a roaring river. The other end of the bridge went right into the forest again. It wasn't obvious, but a road used to be there.

"Wait," Tina said to Melisa.

"What is it?" Melisa said.

Four velociraptors leaped out of the forest and rushed onto the bridge towards the two human girls. Tina pressed a button on her crossbow and the front part fell into her hand. She pocketed the pack and removed a different pack with red tipped arrows. Tina shouldered her crossbow and shot a single red tipped arrow. The arrow exploded on the floor of the already shaky bridge. Cables holding the bridge together broke apart and the metal twisted and turned at the explosion. The raptors screamed as the bridge buckled and the middle dropped several feet. The bridge was holding on by a few weak cables and metal bars. The raptors stood still, afraid of harassing the dying bridge. Tina looked into the eyes of one of the raptors and fired a second red tipped arrow. The arrow exploded on the chest of the front raptor and the last few cables holding the bridge snapped apart. The metal bars fell out of place and the middle of the bridge snapped in half. The entire bridge fell down the huge drop in two pieces. Between the two pieces of the bridge were three screaming velociraptors and several chunks of the fourth.

"What did you just do!?" Melisa screamed at Tina.

"What?" Tina said, thinking that she had just saved them.

"How the hell do you expect to get back onto the other side?" Melisa said.

"Oh," Tina looked down, "I'm sorry; I just thought that it was a good idea."

Melisa suddenly felt bad for yelling at Tina.

"Look," Melisa said, "we'll find another way across."

Melisa and Tina sat down with their backs against a tree. Melisa was thinking about the others, especially her boyfriend, Joseph. 'Was he alright? Did any dinosaurs chase him? Does he have enough ammunition to defend himself? Will I ever see him again; if so, when?'

Soon, Melisa fell into a deep sleep. She was exhausted from all the running. Tina stayed awake, staring into the forest on their side of the gap. It was relatively still, and there were no loud, distinctive noises.


End file.
